Sources
The character of Politick is connected to a tradition of politically involved individuals that frequent coffee-houses. These include the character Upholsterer featured in the Tatler and Beaver the Haberdasher from the Spectator. The type of character also appeared in multiple plays that Fielding would have known, including: Toby Clincher in Sir Hary Wildair (1701) and Postscript in The Generous Husband: or, The Coffee-House Politician (1711). The general idea behind Politick are an incarnation of the news of the day and his discussions involve many events that were contemporaneous with the play. Real newspapers and their reports are mocked throughout.
Other characters are likewise connected to a traditional type within Restoration literature; Squeezum is related to the corrupt politician Quorum in Charles Coffey's The Beggar's Wedding (1729) or the Justice of the Peace in Coffey's The Female Parson (1730). Other works use the same character type, including Butler's Hudibras, Thomas Baker's The Humour of the Age (1701), Swift's Project for the Advancement of Religion, and the Reformation of Manners (1709), and Christopher Bullock's The Per-Juror (1717). Of course, Fielding's own works, including The Author's Farce, The Old Debaucheees, and The Covent-Garden Tragedy includes the character type. However, as Thomas Lockwood points out, "These earlier stage justices are precedents more than sources, as the scope and development of the Squeezum character are beyond anything to be found in these other examples."
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